


Drakaina

by Inkyrius



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: 4+1 Things, Dragons, Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-20 19:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11341599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkyrius/pseuds/Inkyrius
Summary: Four unexpected inconveniences that arise from being a dragon, and one obvious perk that doesn't occur to Corrin until later.





	Drakaina

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aeriel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeriel/gifts).



**1.**

Corrin had not learned about her draconic heritage under the best of circumstances. Not that she knew what the ideal circumstances would be, but she’d imagine they involved much less death. As it was, she thought her reluctance to make use of said heritage was totally understandable.

On the other hand, given that her “army” currently consisted of a semi-retired knight, her butler, and a mysterious songstress who wasn’t quite related to her, she didn’t have the luxury of letting personal feelings interfere with her tactical decisions. And having a dragon on the battlefield was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Which was why she was standing in her room, staring at her dragonstone as if it held the secret to peace between Hoshido and Nohr. Sadly, just staring didn’t seem to be doing her any good. She grabbed it tightly and began willing herself to transform.

After five minutes, she had buried the last of her hesitance in determination to figure it out. At the ten minute mark, she noticed the imprints of the stone on her hand. She forced herself to relax her grip. This was supposed to be natural.

Fifteen minutes later, all she wanted was to throw the stone at the wall and be done with it. Instead, she went to talk to Azura.

Azura’s response was less than encouraging. “I’m afraid I’ve never met any other dragons. I know it’s supposed to help you control your transformations, but I don’t know how.”

“Well, thank you anyway.” A thought occurred to her. “Wait, if you don’t know anyone who can use them, how do you know what they do? Why did you even have one with you just in time for me to go berserk?”

“Queen Mikoto gave it to me, though she wouldn’t tell me why.” Azura sighed. “I should have guessed, but… No, I don’t have an excuse. At any rate, it was her wish that you have it.”

“I’m so sorry.” The words were all but automatic, as Corrin’s mind was firmly elsewhere. Had her mother foreseen her mindless rampage? It was a painful thought, that the last impression her mother had of her was of a feral beast, but she pushed it aside for more important questions. Where had her mother gotten the dragonstone? How had she known about its power? And if she had known about Corrin’s less human side, did anyone else?

“Corrin?” Azura looked worried, so Corrin shelved her freakout for later.

“It’s just a lot to take in.” She attempted a smile. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. I guess I’ll just have to figure this dragonstone thing out for myself.”

“If you’re sure…” Azura didn’t look particularly reassured, but she also didn’t seem inclined to argue the point. Corrin chose to take that as a win and make a polite retreat. She was ready to be alone for a little bit.

Even if that did mean she was back to staring balefully at a rock.

 

**2.**

Corrin had hoped to avoid battling Hoshido. Since Yukimura seemed to have other ideas, she’d just have to hope they could get through to him, ideally nonlethally. She figured her best chance of doing so was to transform before any of the guards could get to her. That way she’d be ready when she had to engage them, and with any luck it would be enough to give them second thoughts. She’d been assured that her transformations were rather unsettling.

As soon as she was done, she saw her friends looking to her for a strategy. “Okay,” she said, “we’re going to head straight for Yukimura.”

At least, she tried to say it. Somewhere between her brain and her now draconic mouth, the message was translated to, “Grrh rgh rawrgh!”

She took a moment to be grateful that dragons couldn’t blush. She tried again, enunciating more carefully, but only managed to interject the occasional vowel into her growls. The only upside was that the Hoshidan soldiers seemed at least as confused as her friends.

She gave up and charged while they were distracted. She didn’t think they’d need a particularly elaborate strategy for this fight, and she wanted to get it over with quickly. She’d just have to add talking to her training routine.

 

**3.**

Corrin had long ago given up on understanding how or why objects appeared in the castle. It was just a part of life on the Astral Plane, apparently. Most of the new recruits learned pretty quickly to watch their step, and to make Corrin deal with anything they found. She’d be annoyed if she didn’t enjoy the excuse to regularly check in on everyone.

She was making her rounds as usual when Kaden came up to her, carrying a jagged sword. “Look what I found!” he said. “I don’t know what it is, but it looks really cool.”

As a swordswoman, Corrin’s first impression of it was that it was an interesting design but mostly impractical. It was unlikely to do any good against a foe in heavy armor, for instance. Otherwise, while it would do a reasonable amount of damage going into an enemy, retrieving it would be a pain. It was at best a situational tool.

None of this information mattered to her instincts, which were screaming at her to get as far from this thing as possible. The deepest parts of her brain were convinced that even looking at this thing for too long was going to hurt her. It was ridiculous, and she knew it, and it took all her willpower not to run away.

“Yeah,” she said faintly. “Cool.”

“Here you go, then!” Kaden held the sword out to her, and she couldn’t quite suppress her flinch. He leaned in, suddenly serious. “Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine,” Corrin said reflexively. She shook her head. “It’s just… Would you take care of that for me? I’d rather not touch it.”

“Of course!” Kaden began backing away, though he still looked concerned. “I’ll just go take this to the armory. You should get some rest. You’ll be even more beautiful when you wake up!”

Corrin smiled despite herself. Rest would be nice, but there wasn’t really time for it right now. Just having the sword away from her was enough to get her back to normal. And knowing that she was cared for was better than any nap.

 

**4.**

Corrin had thought that she’d accepted the fact that she was a dragon. It helped that, aside from some unfortunate side effects, being a dragon was pretty freaking cool. And she had a wonderful husband who was also a shapeshifter and two adorable children, so really, her life was just wonderful all around.

Then she found out that one of said adorable children was also a dragon. Even better, this fact only came to light when he went feral trying to protect her. The parallel to her own awakening had her terrified for any number of reasons.

But hey, she had survived, so at least Kana’s first transformation had gone better than her own. And once Kana had calmed down, it was much easier to explain when she could use herself as an example. All she had to do was give him her dragonstone.

It was the right decision, and she didn’t regret it in the slightest. Kana was younger and less accustomed to being a dragon, so he needed the added control more than she did. She didn’t want him to stop thinking that his ability was something fun and cool. And while she wasn’t a fan of the sacrifice-yourself-for-your-child line of thinking, in a worst-case scenario his life was more important to her.

Still, not having a dragonstone for herself made her rather antsy. Azura hadn’t known where Queen Mikoto had gotten the one she’d had, so they couldn’t exactly go find a replacement. Corrin just had to hope they’d stumble across one. Valla seemed more likely to have them than anywhere else, at least.

In the meantime, she spent a lot of time practicing with the Yato. She just had to maintain her discipline and self-control. She’d gone most of her life without even knowing she could turn into a dragon, so going a few months more without doing it should be trivial. It couldn’t take that long to find a new stone for her. And she was far from helpless without one, and she had her family and friends to support her and make sure she didn’t lose her mind, and it was going to be fine.

She would be fine.

 

**\+ 1.**

It took Corrin an embarrassingly long time to realize that she could fly. In her defense, she’d mostly used her dragon form for combat or training, and there wasn’t exactly time to experiment on the battlefield. She probably should still have guessed that her wings were functional, but it wasn’t like she was a very traditional dragon anyway.

She only made the connection when she went to visit Camilla in the wyvern stables. Camilla had made an offhand comment about wanting to go flying together, and Corrin’s brain had somehow leapt to trying to fly on her own. The wyverns made it look easy, just flapping their wings and taking off.

The actuality of flying was rather less elegant. It took Corrin several months, dedicated training, and more than a few plunges into the spring to manage a flight across the castle’s courtyard. The brief moments she spent in the air in between crash-landings were more than worth it. It was entirely different from the times she’d flown with either of her sisters. There was nothing between her and the open sky, no one else directing where she went. The borders between Nohr and Hoshido and even Valla didn’t seem to matter from the air. She could pretend she was looking down at a world at peace.

She didn’t get many opportunities to go flying, which might have been for the best. She couldn’t afford to keep dreaming about peace and stop working to make it a reality.

But on days when even trying for peace felt pointless, she could take to the skies and remember what it was that she fought for.


End file.
